College basketball officially tips off Friday around the country. But on Tuesday night, when superpowers Kentucky and Michigan State, Duke and Kansas, come to town for the Champions Classic, is when it starts in earnest with a potential Final Four preview.

“If you look at most polls, all four would be preseason top 10 and three in the top five,” said ESPN analyst Dick Vitale, who will begin announcing college basketball for his 38th season. “Incredible.”

It should be an exciting night, as the Garden hosts the blockbuster doubleheader for the first time since 2011. Preseason No. 1 Duke, led by elite freshmen Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, Frank Jackson and Marques Bolden, along with national player of the year candidate Grayson Allen and senior forward Amile Jefferson, is everyone’s favorite to win it all. The Blue Devils received 58 of a possible 65 first-place votes in the Associated Press poll.

“Looking at Duke this year, they have all the parts a coach would dream of having,” Vitale said. “They have great size and they have talent on the interior. They have outstanding perimeter players. … I think they can be dominant. But saying all that, I would challenge anybody out there to prove to me they had Villanova as one of their choices to win a national title when we were talking preseason last year. That’s the beauty of college basketball. It’s one night.”

Third-ranked Kansas has, at this point, the consensus top freshman in the country, 6-foot-8 wing Josh Jackson, and an experienced group of veterans to support him. Kentucky, ranked second, and coach John Calipari brought in another elite recruiting class, headed by dynamic guards Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox, while No. 12 Michigan State can boast another potential one-and-done lottery pick in Miles Bridges.

“I can’t wait to see them in person, because you hear so much about these kids, and now you just want to see them for real,” Vitale said. “Are they really as good as all the hype, all the adjectives you hear about them while they’re playing in high school?”

Michigan State star Miles BridgesAP

The only negative about the night is there are multiple injuries, to Michigan State and Duke, that will likely hinder both. The Blue Devils will be without two of their elite freshmen, Bolden (left leg) and Giles (knee). The Spartans won’t have the services of veteran forwards Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter, both of whom will miss ample time with knee injuries.

Still, both will have freshmen everyone wants to see, Tatum and Jackson for Duke, Bridges for Michigan State. It’s what makes this annual event so exciting, the presence of these elite freshmen, and this year is no different.

“What I’m really looking forward to seeing is the diaper dandies John Calipari recruited,” Vitale said. “My God, John Calipari has been a recruiting machine. He’s done it every year. I’m not a big fan [of the one-and-done rule], and neither is John, and neither are a lot of guys. But it exists, and he’s a little better than most at recruiting the great players. Nobody in their right mind would turn down the great players he’s gotten.”

It should all add up to a special evening, a first impression of these star-studded freshmen for the entire country against strong competition on the big stage.

“We see too many cupcake cities, too many cream-puff delights. I’d rather be sitting there calling games with Duke and Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State, and those kinds of teams,” Vitale said. “Kids love that, too. It’s the way you develop, the way you get better, the way you improve. You learn about yourself.”